As the EU's multi-annual budget is being negotiated, the amounts and efficiency of spending matter but also priorities and European values when disbursing programmes. Smarter conditionality is needed, triggering less political backlash, and, where needed, direct payment to beneficiaries, argue Benedek Jávor and Laszlo Andor.

While studies and reports about the consequences of Brexit on EU27 regions are multiplying, it is increasingly clear that the EU needs to create mechanisms to support territories negatively affected by the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the Union, write Marc Joulaud and Lambert Van Nistelrooij.

Study shows that citizens’ concerns are directly linked to domestic policies, which are consistently the target of EU economic coordination priorities. That is why Cohesion Policy could help the European project, by making it relevant to citizens, writes Katie Cavell.

Good news for all the supporters of development policies: city-to-city development cooperation will remain at the heart of the EU’s external action. And localising the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is a priority supported by the European Union, writes Frédéric Vallier.

The EU’s next Cohesion Fund for regional development should prioritise investments into waste management systems focused on prevention, re-use, separate collection and recycling – not on incineration, argues Janek Vahk.

Europe faces massive challenges, from migration to climate change and all points between. As Jean-Claude Juncker gears up to make his final address to this European Parliament, Frédéric Vallier calls on the Commission boss not to forget the role of cities and regions.

The debate over the EU's post-2020 budget (MFF) has cast a shadow on the future of the EU main investment policy. Francesco Molica and Nikos Lampropoulos look at what could happen next and what's at stake.

In order for the Covenant of Mayors to continue its success and further embed itself in EU policies, it has to become a key instrument for the future EU budget, write the local and regional leaders of the group's board.

In the aftermath of Brexit, which is expected to create a financial gap of €14 billion per year, doing more with less has, once again, become a cliché. But this time it is different, writes centre-right MEP Maria Spyraki.

The (much) higher use of loans and guarantees foreseen in the MFF post-2020 will produce significant changes in the management model of EU funding, and could even herald a structural evolution in the European project as a whole, write Francesco Molica and Nikos Lampropoulos.

The EU needs to listen more and engage more with its citizens. It can take inspiration from and use its cities for this purpose to find ways to create societies where people come first, argues Daniël Termont.

In its package on deepening the EMU unveiled on 6 December, the Commission proposed to amend the Common Provisions Regulation. It's a piece of legislation that sets a single framework of rules for all the Structural and Investment Funds, whose main recipients are the European regions - write Francesco Molica and Nikos Lampropoulos.

The upcoming EU budget negotiations and new priorities are calling into question the very existence of the EU’s Cohesion Policy. But if the social, economic and territorial disparities facing Europe are to be overcome, then Cohesion policy must be secured as the EU strategic investment policy for all European citizens after 2020, writes Vasco Cordeiro.

Despite the programme’s shortcomings, Horizon 2020 is one of the greatest things that ever happened to EU research and innovation. But it’s time to rethink the respective financing through the EU budget, writes Andrey Novakov.

Brexit, budget tensions, recentralisation processes and the rise of Euroscepticism and populist ideas: European economic, social and territorial cohesion are being tested on several fronts. These tests cast new doubts on the future of the European Union and the added value it brings to its citizens, writes Frédéric Vallier.

Elections across Europe show Europe's political parties to be increasingly defined by how nationalistic they are. Confronting this and reinstating progressive politics is essential, and can best be done by giving more power to Europe's regions, urges Giles Merritt.

If the Western Balkans are to overcome almost three decades of economic stagnation and crisis, they will need to double their annual growth rates. This will need a fundamental rethink of the EU’s enlargement policy, argue Tobias Flessenkemper and Dušan Reljić.

In Kosovo, far too much time has been spent on issues like border demarcation. Delivering peace instead of war is one thing but that is not enough when young people want a good education and their parents want jobs, warns Kosovar politician Kadri Veseli.

US Vice-President Joe Biden has chosen this week to come to what is still Europe’s great unfinished business – the West Balkans. Can Biden knock any sense into his Serb hosts? Unlikely, says Denis MacShane.

Shortly after the results came in, Sinn Fein declared it would seek a vote on Irish reunification. Consequently, by voting in favour of Brexit, British voters may have endangered the progress of the Northern Ireland Peace Process, writes Karlijn Jans.

European institutions and member states need to guarantee the necessary resources, via targeted financing for the towns and regions that host them, the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) states in a petition.